I had a very fast 2 days at SES New York this past week. Besides being able to meet in person with a lot of people for the first time the group I was with had an amusing run in with Jesse Jackson at the Hilton lobby (more on that some other time.)

I was going to give some links to all the bloggers I saw there. Unfortunately between the 3 hours of sleep before my Friday morning flight and the full day of work when I returned my memory is already fading fast.

Here is a deal for my readers. I was able to meet with my Azoogle rep, Jeremy Elbaum, and he is interested in helping any of my readers out. Azoogle has the offers that convert well so you won’t be wasting your time weeding through garbage like at Commission Junction.

If you’ve been doing just ok in affiliate marketing, you definately want to pay attention here. Apply for an account and ask for Jeremy, then mention to him that Andrew referred you. He is one of the top reps over there and does an exceptional job.

I can’t promise everything, but if you follow through on this, and have some competant knowledge of the internet, send me an e-mail and I will make sure you are headed in the right direction.

Domain investors think affiliate marketing is a scam. (no hard feelings, this is a damn good blog)

Internet Publishers & Merchants think domain investing is cyber squatting.

Affiliates using Seach Engine Optimization and buying Pay-per-click advertising think e-mail marketers are spammers.

I guess no one bothered to figure out that affiliate marketers buying PPC ads drive untold millions of dollars in to the pockets domain investors owning typos or that affiliate payouts are raised because the affiliate advertisers to e-mail marketing resulting in higher ad prices. High-converting PPC traffic from squatted typo domain names subsidizes the earnings of low quality content sites because the advertisers don’t know where the traffic is exactly coming from.

Then again, its not all bad. Each of us only has so much time in a day. As hard as we try we can never understand everything or be the best at everything. Making sense of those things that seem silly and unworkable is where the triple-digit and higher profit margins lurk. Its ok to ignore everything else for a while and focus on doing just that one thing right.

I saw this article on the Guardian. The UK’s Ministry of Defence wrote a report on “probable” changes in the next 30 years.

Here are some trends they see:

– “‘declining news quality’ with the rise of ‘internet-enabled, citizen-journalists’ and pressure to release stories ‘at the expense of facts’” (I hope they aren’t talking about my blog!)

– Large scale electromagnetic pulse weapons by 2035 that could fry electronics in a wide area.

– Neutron weapons that can kill humans without destroying buildings.

– Unmanned weapons platforms (already done.)

– terrorists using flashmobs

– an increase in popularism and Marxism in the middle class due to widening wealth gaps (thanks inflationary money supply)

– majority of world’s population lives in urban areas

– 98% of population growth coming from less developed countries

– continued instability in the Middle East & north Africa

– Islamic militancy putting focus on China (forseable as Chinese interests in Middle-Eastern energy increases)

– On the positive side, Iran may move towards transforming into a “vibrant democracy.”

Then again, perhaps in 2037 these predictions will all look like a paleo future. If somehow you stumble upon this post in 30 years, feel free to comment

Via Reuters - “FBI investigators have visited Second Life’s Internet casinos at the invitation of the virtual world’s creator Linden Lab, but the U.S. government has not decided on the legality of virtual gambling.”

It took them this long to be bothered, and they had to be “invited?” Whenever I would look for populated areas in Second Life, every place would end up being a casino.

How does it work?

Second Life allows for advanced scripting, that means you can create a slot machine or similar gaming device. L$ or linden dollars can be purchased and sold at various virtual currency exchange sites on the web. Casino operators place parking chairs in their location that pays users to sit in them. This makes their location appear very populated on the world map thus attracting curious users. So, USD in -> L$ -> USD out.

Legal? Normal online gambling is in the US is a big enough of a mess; I wouldn’t touch it. As usual the Second Life creators appear so eager for press that they are inviting a criminal investigation into themselves and their users.

Considering how confusing Second Life is to anyone but hardline 3D nerds I would imagine the FBI are stratching their heads right now.

I needed some conversion data on a new project before I wanted to sink a lot more time and money developing it. I created a landing page I thought would work, but the conversion goal was something I had minimal experience with before.

24 hours later I had nearly 100 actions and knew my conversion rate was 1:16. The total cost: about $44.

Having the right data can be like having a map. It may not quite be GPS guidance, but you at least know you are headed in the right direction. Besides not wasting your time on something that won’t matter, direction gives you the confidence needed to proceed ahead at full throttle.

Danny Sullivan made a post about this embarassingly silly law that has been passed in Utah.

“Establishes a new type of mark, called an electronic registration mark, that may 10 not be used to trigger advertising for a competitor and creates a database for use in 11 administering marks.”

Yeah, you read that correctly. They just invented a new form of trademark that applies only to search engine advertising.

I read several of the comments left on my post, “What the Hell Should I Do With This Blog?”

Diorex left a comment — “Those weeks where I had lots and lots of readers and was encouraged to write more, I found were black holes of delayed projects and little new revenue.” A matter of days later he closed his blog down for good.

One of the sole reasons I have been able to write this blog is because I can write it entirely off the top of my head. If I had to sit down and create an outline, do research, and proof-read this site would not exist.

This blog will stay. The long and sometimes dull posts will stay too. I’m not changing to format or audience appeal. This blog is written specifically for people who want to make a lot of money online and are willing to work hard to get there.

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About a year and a half ago I read this book titled, “Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got” by Jay Abraham. He’s one of those guys who charges $10,000 to talk to someone on the phone and you may see his name in more than a few 30 page sales letters. So what, the book had a damn good lesson.

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May be I have a short memory, but it seems like this April Fool’s Day we had an unusually high number of pranks, fake news, and hackings.

Google had quite a few of them, Google Paper — free supported by “red, bold, 36 pt Helvetica” and Google TiSP, free wireless broadband service that is installed by flushing a cord down your toilet.

For many April Fools day is just a time for gags. For marketers and publishers, however, hoax marketing is becoming an increasingly attractive way of pulling in backlinks. Last April, Quadzilla said “Hoax Marketing is one logical evolotionary growth path that will prove to be extremely profitable.”

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